Nunes Refused to Tell House Intel What's Next for His DOJ-FBI Probe

The house intelligence chief is pushing ahead with his controversial investigation. But on Monday, he wouldn’t tell his colleagues where the probe is going.

BETSY WOODRUFF
SPENCER ACKERMAN
02.06.18 2:11 PM ET

Devin Nunes, the chairman of the House intelligence committee, says he’s investigating the FBI and Justice Department. But at a committee meeting on Monday, he declined to give members details that were requested about the direction of that investigation, The Daily Beast has learned.

At a committee meeting on Monday evening, members voted unanimously to release a Democratic rebuttal to Nunes’ instantly-infamous memo, which alleged the FBI improperly sought authorization to surveil a former Trump campaign adviser. But while the vote was unanimous, the committee hearing was tense, according to multiple sources familiar with the proceedings.

Members on the committee wanted Nunes to provide additional detail on his efforts to investigate the DOJ and FBI—an inquiry Nunes first confirmed to Democrats last week, as his justification for denying Bureau and Justice officials a chance to detail their objections to the release of his memo. Nunes, according to sources familiar with the matter, declined to share details of that investigation with members.

That might seem like a small, passive-aggressive moment in yet another of Capitol Hill’s endless partisan squabbles. In reality, it’s much more. Nunes and his White House allies already have put enormous pressure on the FBI’s leadership. A deputy FBI director named in the document has stepped down, and the Justice Department official overseeing the Russia probe—Rod Rosenstein, lifelong Republican—is facing increasing criticism fellow Republicans. Three quarters of Trump voters now say the FBI is biased against the president, according to a recent poll.

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